This review may contain spoilers
Very plain, very average, too many tropes
I mostly started watching this because of the main leads, I like them both and especially Jung So Min but the writing in this is just... average, plain, formulaic and trope-y.
The main problem is the story, that while it had a mildly interesting premise it doesn't feel like it was exploited to its potential by any means. You want a very plain romcom? this works, it's for you! It's watchable and has a couple of cute moments here and there and a couple of things that are mildly interesting but overall I was not impressed by anything, it's so average that week by week I was half forgetting what happened in the previous episodes.
I don't mind some clichés and tropes and if the characters make for it or the plot is interesting I can give it a pass but here with such a plain story where the main quirk aspect becomes very background and it all holds on those tropes then it just becomes something we have all seen at some point or another. There is not enough in-depth on the characters or story to make this stand out in any way for me.
- Handsome and rich ML? ✔
- Poorer FL that is struggling? ✔
- FL that is soft, submissive, always forgiving and always giving? ✔ (perfect woman right there).
- FL gets into a situation that gives her something she can't technically afford so she can live the rich live? ✔
- Second male interest (if we can call him that) that is annoying for the entirety of the show? ✔
- Mean ex-mother in law? ✔
- Leads know each other since kids? ✔
- Someone does something that they shouldn't but it's excused because they were drunk? ✔
- ML has traumatic past where parents accident was actually a murder? ✔
- Someone in the family did it? ✔
- Someone in ML's rich family that is a bit off/weary of FL's background? ✔
- FL works for or happens to do a job for ML's company? ✔
- Leads coworkers are all carefree, bubbly and extroverted? ✔
- Silly miscommunication that makes FL worried and gives her self-esteem issues about her background? ✔
As I said, I like So Min but I can't deny that I was puzzled why for the first half of the show she seemed at times to be standing there like "what I'm doing here, I don't want to do this" type of pose and expression. Her character was the martyr/devil's advocate type and since I'm not a fan I didn't enjoy the character much. ML on the other hand, despite his past and whatnot seemed to me very plain, at points he seemed as underdeveloped as some background character. In fact, I found some of the background characters to have more defined personalities than him, even if they were trope-y and single feature personalities.
Seo Bum June's character was so annoying I can't even!! (I mean, kudos to the actor, he played him well, what a piece of work!), and the plot spent way too much time on his side of the story and the end doesn't end up being that satisfactory even if at least consistent with FL's character personality. He basically suffers zero consequences despite his tantrum of entitlement.
All plot points that were supposed to create any type of tension were solved in a very quick anti-climactic way, and it's funny I have to say this because I would have preferred the plots to be different since they were not my cup of tea, but if you're going to do them at least do them well?
The uncle drama became towards the end so melodramatic and for me it crossed the line to cheap soap opera with the uncle's character overacting, it felt too overdone in general. Not only it was predictable and the audience already knew everything but the way it was quickly solved makes you wonder why they bothered. FL's ex story should have ended in the first episodes, he should have disappeared into oblivion with his new girlfriend to never be seen again. His drama with trying to expose the whole thing to in the end be solved that easily because the stars aligned was a bit... what was the point of this? The tension with ML's grandma being concerned with FL's background for half an episode was also pointless and I kept being quite tired of the miscommunication on purpose to serve the plot with the fact that you could barely call FL a divorced woman considering how the whole ordeal went, but the stigma is getting old. It's still that prevalent in Korea that can still be so overused in dramas? Either way, I'm sure they're not surprising anyone with what is already a trope in my eyes.
Second couple? interesting, more nuance, but overall not fully explored or fully developed and left at the point you want more. Him going to prison but we getting no info on what happened to his bosses felt very rushed, it was only there for his end of the story and to bury the raffle house situation, so the main drama of it was left as background.
The chemistry between the main leads was so-so for me for most of the drama, towards the end it improved a bit all of a sudden. Not going to lie it made me wonder if it was somehow also tied to what I previously mentioned of the feeling So Min was giving me for half of the drama, I don't know. I feel it's mostly towards the end of the drama that we see more intimate and relationship dynamics of the main leads and they looked cuter together.
And this is nitpicking but the wedding was unnecessary, and there were too many chairs for the amount of guests, like there was there 20 people tops and there were like 50 chairs, it was a bit eye roll.
Overall it's watchable, inoffensive and does have some average entertaining and cute moments, but it's mostly plain, formulaic and quite basic. If you don't have anything else to watch or you like the main leads maybe you want to give it a try, if you're looking for a good romantic story or substance in the plot I would say to avoid this.
PS: I want to point out the description of the drama here it's a bit misleading, especially this part "He is a talented marketing team leader and perfectionist, yet a logical narcissist determined to run the family business in his late father’s place." We don't get to see him being a perfectionist? He's NOT a narcissist, what is funny because there are a couple of narcs in the show, like FL's ex and his mother for example (the ex is clearly the golden child). ML is also not determined to run the family business, in fact he's hesitant and would prefer not to, as seen until the very last episode. If anyone is put off from this show because they have suffered from narcissistic abuse and you think it might be triggering to watch a ML that is that way let me reassure you it's not the case and he's not.
The main problem is the story, that while it had a mildly interesting premise it doesn't feel like it was exploited to its potential by any means. You want a very plain romcom? this works, it's for you! It's watchable and has a couple of cute moments here and there and a couple of things that are mildly interesting but overall I was not impressed by anything, it's so average that week by week I was half forgetting what happened in the previous episodes.
I don't mind some clichés and tropes and if the characters make for it or the plot is interesting I can give it a pass but here with such a plain story where the main quirk aspect becomes very background and it all holds on those tropes then it just becomes something we have all seen at some point or another. There is not enough in-depth on the characters or story to make this stand out in any way for me.
- Handsome and rich ML? ✔
- Poorer FL that is struggling? ✔
- FL that is soft, submissive, always forgiving and always giving? ✔ (perfect woman right there).
- FL gets into a situation that gives her something she can't technically afford so she can live the rich live? ✔
- Second male interest (if we can call him that) that is annoying for the entirety of the show? ✔
- Mean ex-mother in law? ✔
- Leads know each other since kids? ✔
- Someone does something that they shouldn't but it's excused because they were drunk? ✔
- ML has traumatic past where parents accident was actually a murder? ✔
- Someone in the family did it? ✔
- Someone in ML's rich family that is a bit off/weary of FL's background? ✔
- FL works for or happens to do a job for ML's company? ✔
- Leads coworkers are all carefree, bubbly and extroverted? ✔
- Silly miscommunication that makes FL worried and gives her self-esteem issues about her background? ✔
As I said, I like So Min but I can't deny that I was puzzled why for the first half of the show she seemed at times to be standing there like "what I'm doing here, I don't want to do this" type of pose and expression. Her character was the martyr/devil's advocate type and since I'm not a fan I didn't enjoy the character much. ML on the other hand, despite his past and whatnot seemed to me very plain, at points he seemed as underdeveloped as some background character. In fact, I found some of the background characters to have more defined personalities than him, even if they were trope-y and single feature personalities.
Seo Bum June's character was so annoying I can't even!! (I mean, kudos to the actor, he played him well, what a piece of work!), and the plot spent way too much time on his side of the story and the end doesn't end up being that satisfactory even if at least consistent with FL's character personality. He basically suffers zero consequences despite his tantrum of entitlement.
All plot points that were supposed to create any type of tension were solved in a very quick anti-climactic way, and it's funny I have to say this because I would have preferred the plots to be different since they were not my cup of tea, but if you're going to do them at least do them well?
The uncle drama became towards the end so melodramatic and for me it crossed the line to cheap soap opera with the uncle's character overacting, it felt too overdone in general. Not only it was predictable and the audience already knew everything but the way it was quickly solved makes you wonder why they bothered. FL's ex story should have ended in the first episodes, he should have disappeared into oblivion with his new girlfriend to never be seen again. His drama with trying to expose the whole thing to in the end be solved that easily because the stars aligned was a bit... what was the point of this? The tension with ML's grandma being concerned with FL's background for half an episode was also pointless and I kept being quite tired of the miscommunication on purpose to serve the plot with the fact that you could barely call FL a divorced woman considering how the whole ordeal went, but the stigma is getting old. It's still that prevalent in Korea that can still be so overused in dramas? Either way, I'm sure they're not surprising anyone with what is already a trope in my eyes.
Second couple? interesting, more nuance, but overall not fully explored or fully developed and left at the point you want more. Him going to prison but we getting no info on what happened to his bosses felt very rushed, it was only there for his end of the story and to bury the raffle house situation, so the main drama of it was left as background.
The chemistry between the main leads was so-so for me for most of the drama, towards the end it improved a bit all of a sudden. Not going to lie it made me wonder if it was somehow also tied to what I previously mentioned of the feeling So Min was giving me for half of the drama, I don't know. I feel it's mostly towards the end of the drama that we see more intimate and relationship dynamics of the main leads and they looked cuter together.
And this is nitpicking but the wedding was unnecessary, and there were too many chairs for the amount of guests, like there was there 20 people tops and there were like 50 chairs, it was a bit eye roll.
Overall it's watchable, inoffensive and does have some average entertaining and cute moments, but it's mostly plain, formulaic and quite basic. If you don't have anything else to watch or you like the main leads maybe you want to give it a try, if you're looking for a good romantic story or substance in the plot I would say to avoid this.
PS: I want to point out the description of the drama here it's a bit misleading, especially this part "He is a talented marketing team leader and perfectionist, yet a logical narcissist determined to run the family business in his late father’s place." We don't get to see him being a perfectionist? He's NOT a narcissist, what is funny because there are a couple of narcs in the show, like FL's ex and his mother for example (the ex is clearly the golden child). ML is also not determined to run the family business, in fact he's hesitant and would prefer not to, as seen until the very last episode. If anyone is put off from this show because they have suffered from narcissistic abuse and you think it might be triggering to watch a ML that is that way let me reassure you it's not the case and he's not.
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